Community Patrol and Fire-fighting Team
In order to maintain Sabangau’s forest cover and peatland resource, and hence its high biodiversity, large orangutan population, natural resource functions and carbon storage, there is an urgent requirement to prevent further forest degradation, restore natural ecosystem hydrology, prevent further fires, prevent illegal incursions into the forest and restore deforested areas. These objectives have been highlighted in the reports of the 2004 Orangutan Population and Habitat Viability Assessment (PHVA); the 2007 Indonesian Orangutan Action Plan; and the 2008 Indonesian Gibbon Conservation and Management Workshop. Each of these specifically listed Sabangau as a priority site for ape conservation and the prevention of fires and damming of canals as required management actions for Sabangau. These measures are also consistently identified as being critical for reducing carbon emissions from peat fire and degradation, which is probably the most concentrated land-use related carbon emission in the world (Hooijer et al., 2006).
To protect the Natural Laboratory and surrounding areas, a local community forest patrol unit (TSA) was established by CIMTROP, and continues to be managed by them with funding support from OuTrop and our partners. The TSA comprises seven people from the local village of Kereng Bangkerai with three further members from Kalampangan, plus up to 50 part-time members as required. With the full support of local government and law enforcement agencies, the TSA was instrumental in stopping illegal logging in the region during 2002-05 and fighting massive forest fires during 2006 and 2009. The TSA continues to (i) prevent illegal activities in the forest, such as starting fires, cutting trees, hunting protected wildlife and breaking dams; (ii) build and monitor dams; (iii) support the research teams and replanting projects; (iv) undertake socialisation and awareness activities within the local village communities; and (v) manage and maintain the Natural Laboratory base camp and trail system.
One important way to aid hydrological restoration is to dam illegal-logging canals, thus retaining water and forest litterfall in the ecosystem, slowing drainage and allowing canals to fill in naturally. Full restoration of natural peat-swamp hydrological conditions will take some time, and in the meanwhile fires still occur around the forest fringes – usually started by accident or occasionally arson – which can become very large during extreme droughts, and occasionally arise deeper inside the forest. Fires occur frequently in the heavily-drained area of the failed Mega Rice Project on the opposite bank of Sabangau River to the Natural Laboratory, as well as in the sedge swamp on the edge of the Natural Laboratory, which occasionally encroach into the forest itself. The CIMTROP TSA is a rapid-response unit set up to fight these fires before they become uncontrollable. As well as fighting fires that arise, the TSA provide training to new members, maintain the necessary equipment (including slow boats, pumps, nozzles and hoses) and providing training to other communities in the Sabangau region. CIMTROP’s TSA model is being adopted by other organisations and regional government bodies in Central Kalimantan.
See videos of the CIMTROP TSA here: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3.
To protect the Natural Laboratory and surrounding areas, a local community forest patrol unit (TSA) was established by CIMTROP, and continues to be managed by them with funding support from OuTrop and our partners. The TSA comprises seven people from the local village of Kereng Bangkerai with three further members from Kalampangan, plus up to 50 part-time members as required. With the full support of local government and law enforcement agencies, the TSA was instrumental in stopping illegal logging in the region during 2002-05 and fighting massive forest fires during 2006 and 2009. The TSA continues to (i) prevent illegal activities in the forest, such as starting fires, cutting trees, hunting protected wildlife and breaking dams; (ii) build and monitor dams; (iii) support the research teams and replanting projects; (iv) undertake socialisation and awareness activities within the local village communities; and (v) manage and maintain the Natural Laboratory base camp and trail system.
One important way to aid hydrological restoration is to dam illegal-logging canals, thus retaining water and forest litterfall in the ecosystem, slowing drainage and allowing canals to fill in naturally. Full restoration of natural peat-swamp hydrological conditions will take some time, and in the meanwhile fires still occur around the forest fringes – usually started by accident or occasionally arson – which can become very large during extreme droughts, and occasionally arise deeper inside the forest. Fires occur frequently in the heavily-drained area of the failed Mega Rice Project on the opposite bank of Sabangau River to the Natural Laboratory, as well as in the sedge swamp on the edge of the Natural Laboratory, which occasionally encroach into the forest itself. The CIMTROP TSA is a rapid-response unit set up to fight these fires before they become uncontrollable. As well as fighting fires that arise, the TSA provide training to new members, maintain the necessary equipment (including slow boats, pumps, nozzles and hoses) and providing training to other communities in the Sabangau region. CIMTROP’s TSA model is being adopted by other organisations and regional government bodies in Central Kalimantan.
See videos of the CIMTROP TSA here: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3.
